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jtdlmc

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Posts posted by jtdlmc

  1. On 2/14/2023 at 1:25 PM, Bullies3 said:

    Was the shuttle from the pre cruise package at the Panama Hilton ?  What was the shuttle pick up time?

     

    Thanks!

    Yes it was part of the NCL pre cruise package.  We had four buses which left 15 minute apart starting at 11 a.m.  There will be an NCL rep sitting in the hotel lobby when you arrive at the hotel.  I believe there is someone there all day and evening.  You check in with them and you will be assigned a bus time.  

  2. We had a different experience with our Your Lucky Tour but we didn’t have Eduardo as a our guide so maybe that was the issue.  Our guide also didn’t know we were on ship time (an hour later than their time) which is something I assumed they would know since I didn’t know until the night before we arrived.  He kept saying our ship was late but it actually wasn’t, the time I booked with was ship time as I was not aware there was a time difference and we were still in port the same number of hours.  Anyway, we booked the 7 in 1 tour but only went to two places, the canal boat tour and the rainforest.  First stop was the canal and our guide just told us to go in this area where they loaded the boats.  We sat there for awhile and then my husband saw him so asked when we were supposed to get on a boat so he spoke to the guy running it and we were put on with a large tour group with their own guide so we were kind of left out of things.  Then off to the walk in the national park.  Now we were told that we had to pay a donation to get in ($5 US was the recommended minimum according to the sign).  No mention of this prior.  We were told to go walk and take our time - no guide.  Having read reviews prior I just assumed it was a guided walk.  It seems we were just driven to where we were going and “dropped off”.  But anyway, by this time we were about 3 hours into the tour and had heard our guide’s take on the traffic with the three ships in port, we decided we would only be gone for 30 minutes and then we went back to find him.  He stopped on the side of the road by a banana plantation so I could take pictures and asked if we wanted to stop at a fruit market.  Knowing we couldn’t purchase anything to take back on the ship we decided to just head back as we only had about 2.5 hours until all aboard and it has been a long drive.   Our driver was very nice and told us a lot of information about the area but it seemed almost as though he wasn’t sure exactly what our tour was supposed to entail.  Unfortunately we definitely did not think this tour was worth $180 when we only got to go on the boat tour and a 30 minute walk in the forest.  We did see a sloth and a couple of monkeys during our short walk though.  

  3. Well I thought we had good flights, even though return was 3 different flights, but delayed flights on both outbound and home bound days, mean almost missed connections, running through airports to different terminals (twice) and going almost 24 hours with meals.  Never again.  

    • Like 1
  4. 16 minutes ago, Cruise till you drop said:


    Are you sure that wasn’t in Curaçao as they’re on AST (an hour ahead of EST usually)

    Nope definitely was Limon, Costa Rica, but as I said we did have to advance our clocks by one hour ahead one morning so must have been before Curaçao but by doing so ship time was the same as shore time.  
     

    Just checked my Freestyle Daily and these are the time changes

    Day 2 - one hour forward before bed

    Day 6 - one hour back before bed

    Day 8 (Costa Rica) - in order to avoid multiple time changes we will keep ship time in Puerto Limon, this means the port will be one hour behind ship time

    • Like 1
  5. 6 hours ago, Cruise till you drop said:


    Thanks for the review.  I’m interested in what was the ship time versus Curacao time 

    It was the same.  The only place it was different was Costa Rica.  We did have to set our clocks 1 hour ahead (and then back) at one point during the cruise but I can’t remember what day it was.  

  6. On 1/27/2023 at 1:39 PM, vacation44 said:

     

    We also plan on skipping lunch on our private tour.   We want to go to the caves and then the turtles.  

     

    Please report back your experience and have a great time.

    This was the best tour we have done on any of our cruises! We had Joey as our driver/guide and he was absolutely amazing.  We had a wonderful day.  We went to a cave and a blow hole, beautiful view point, swam with the turtles, he took us to see another beautiful beach and some wild flamingos.  He also walked around with us back at Willemstad to point out the sites.  We learned everything there is to know about Curaçao and it was a lot of fun.  

  7. I just checked in this morning and had absolutely no issue with the photos.  The first photo I submitted for each of us was accepted.  We took them standing against a light coloured wall and just head and, neck, shoulder shots.  I took several with my phone, zoomed in and out to save different views, emailed them to myself, saved them on computer and uploaded during check in.  

     

  8. We love just wandering around the town, going to one of the restaurants for lunch/drinks.  We have done the stingray tour twice and loved it, but if that's something you are interested in go with a private group and not the cruise line as there will be much less people.  There are lots of tour operators right in town who offer tours around the area very cheap.  We went that route one time.  She took us to a turtle place, a beach, Hell and a scenic drive.  Very cheap.  

  9. Pre-COVID I just booked our cruises myself on the cruise lines website.  Due to all the flight issues and other travel concerns that can pop up at any time, I now use a TA so she can deal with any issues that arise.  

    • Like 1
  10. 4 hours ago, Sailing12Away said:

    What time does the ship get in? Assuming it's in early at 6am, you would be in the first group off with NCL transfers and at the airport by 8am-ish. They wouldn't book you on a flight they didn't think you would make, as they'll be the ones dealing with the angry phone calls and having to reschedule things last minute if you don't make it.

     

    Sometimes NCL can't win. My flight is so late in the day.... My flight is so early in the day.... I get in so late... I get in so early....

    Our ship starts disembarking after 7 and the airport is an hour away.  That’s assuming there are no issues with the ship being cleared by immigration.  NCL states on their webpage to be at the airport 4 hours prior to an international flight - we won’t be off the ship 4 hours prior.  My TA is trying to make them change the flight as it goes against their own guidelines.  I wouldn’t care if my flight was early or late as long as it was possible to make - this flight is not possible🙄

  11. 4 hours ago, uneamie said:

    We have a precruise package as well and we had it the last time we cruised. Their transportation left the hotel according to the ships departure time...allowing for several hours. We got to port at !0:30AM. No biggy for us because I really don't want to sit at port for hours.  May I asked what hotel you booked your package so I can compare the pricing of ours? We are booked at Hampton Inn Ridgeway with the "park, stay and go" package which includes the room, breakfast, and drop off and pick up at the port. for $331.25. Hubby does not like driving in NYC and we want to make sure we are there on time so this is what works best for us. 

    We are sailing out of Panama.  The package includes the Hilton and was $360 Canadian at the time I booked so I think with exchange at that time it was about $250 US which includes breakfast and transportation to the port. 

    • Like 1
  12. 2 hours ago, BarnCat1 said:

    Why would they book that time? You would need to be there at 7am and its 45 minutes away from the ship.  Much luck to you on getting this changed! 

    Crazy isn’t it!  There is no way we will make that flight.  My TA has sent them copies of their own rules that they did not provide with this booking so 🤞

  13. For those who have booked this package did NCL provide transportation from the airport to the hotel?  NCLs website says transportation provided by hotel shuttle but the hotel no longer has a shuttle.  My TA was told they no longer provide transportation to the hotel.  I’ve seen mention from a couple people that they did have transportation so I’m wondering if they purchased it separately or if it was part of the package.  My TA is saying they provide transportation from hotel to port and then port to airport only.  

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